Back in 1998 my employment took our family to Europe for several years where I worked as an engineer to set up several manufacturing lines at a new automotive parts factory. It was a tough assignment, but a wonderful experience. One of the things I brought back from that was a love for truly well made bread. The Europeans have a long history of making fine food, but the simple craft of baking bread has been developed to an art form there. After enjoying the real thing, I could never be truly satisfied with the bread commonly sold here - even the varieties touted as being "European." The only local exception I know of is a little German style bakery I know of in Kempner, TX. Every time I pass though that area during their business hours I buy several loaves to bring home.
Anyway, I was used to spending the extra few dollars for the quality breads sold at the local supermarkets and bakeries when we were hit with the harsh reality of a tightened budget. I found myself still desiring a quality loaf of bread with our meals, but unable to justify the absurd prices charged for it. For example, the good bread costs about $4-$6 per loaf here at the local bakeries compared to under $1 when I traveled in Poland and the Ukraine.
To maintain this small but important quality of life, I took to baking. I'd been taught to bake as a child by my mother. She worked full-time as a teacher and felt is good and just for us three children to all pitch in with the housework - including cooking and baking. During much of my married life, my wife would do all the cooking, so these skills languished for a couple decades. Single again, I resurrected these skills and developed them to new levels.
Initially my efforts were less than satisfactory. The loaves of yeast bread turned out dense and shriveled and the soda breads were often coarse and doughy. Many batches of rolls, doughnuts and the like that I baked could have doubled as armor-piercing rounds for artillery shells or cheap hog feed. I found the recpies in the books were helpful, but left out some mysterious technical details that allowed the publisher to include pictures of perfect, mouth-watering loaves next to recipes that only gave the most basic instructions and often lead to disappointing results.
Finally, I learned to bake something comparable to the book illustrations and even began experimenting on my own. Finally I developed a variation on the recipe for French bread that was a surefire success for me every time. I decided to call if Rosemary French Bread. The recipe is as follows:
ROSEMARY FRENCH BREAD
Ingredients:
Unbleached white wheat flour - ~1,300g (about 2-1/2 lbs) (NOT SELF-RISING) [~175g/cup]
Salt - 1 teaspoon - 11g
Sugar - 2 table spoons - 20g
Butter - 2 table spoons
Rosemary - dried and ground - 2 tablespoons - 5g
Yeast - 1/2 teaspoon - 1.5g
Water - 2-1/2 cups - 212g
Shortening - to grease baking sheet, as needed
Optional:
Cornmeal - to sprinkle on baking sheet adn prevent loaves from sticking
Whites from 1 egg with pastry brush
Equipment:
1 Large mixing bowl
1 small cup
1 sauce pan
1 electric mixer with beaters
1 set measuring spoons
1 large sppon
1 baking sheet
1 oven - electric, gas or wood (preferably temperature controlled)
1. Heat 1/4 cup water to 40-45 deg Celsius (105-115 deg F) and add to yeast in a small cup and allow time (about 5 minutes) for yeas to dissolve. Stir gently.
2. Put salt, sugar and butter into a large mixing bowl
3. Bring 1 cup water to boil and pour into mixing bow with salt & etc., stir briskly until the butter melts and all items are combined
4. Add 1 cup cold water to mixture in large mixing bowl to reduce temperature to luke-warm. Add dissolved yeast from small cup by pouring into large mixing bowl.
5. Add the rosemary and 2 cups flour to mixing bowl, and stir with mixer on low speed for about 2 minutes and any additional time needed to mix all ingredients thoroughly into a liquid batter.
6. Add 3-1/2 cups of flour to mixing bowl by cupfuls (or partial cupfuls) and mix with a large spoon until a knead able dough forms. (Kneadable means it can be handled without either sticking to floured hands and breadboard - too much water, and does not fall apart into chunks and flakes when picked up - too much flour. Add more flour or water to get desired consistency.
7. Set aside about 1/2 cup flour and use this to dust kneading board and hands.
8. Knead bread for about 5-10 minuets, repeatedly folding dough in on itself so that it is thoroughly mixed. Add small amounts of water and/or flour to keep dough kneadable.
9. Grease a clean cookie sheet (or loaf pan). Optional - sprinkle with corn meal.
10. Next, return the dough ball to the mixing bowl and let rise. It will rise faster in a warm environment, slower in a cool one. So, for a shorter cycle time, I turn on the stove to preheat for about 8 minutes to make it warm, but not too hot and turn the stove off again. Then I cover the bowl with a clean towel and let it rise in the oven for several hours.
11. When the dough has risen and filled the mixing bowl, remove it and divide it into three equal lumps, about 550g each. Form these into oblong loafs and place these side by side on the greased cookie sheet. Put them back in a warm over (not hot or on) and let them rise again. The loaves may loose shape or stick together. Gently separate them and reshape them if necessary after they have risen but before baking them. If they stick together into one huge blob, the baking sheet is probably too small and a larger one is needed.
12. To bake the loaves, remove them from the oven and remove the towel. Take a sheet of aluminum foil and fold it at a slight angle and place over each loaf. Heat the over to 425 F and bake until done. That is about 30 minutes and is apparent when the edges of the loaves near the baking sheet turn a like brown.
13. Turn off the oven, remove the loaves and take off the aluminum foil covers. Let them cool on the baking skeet or a cooling rack.
14. Store the finished loaves in a breadbox or wrap them in a plastic bag to preserve freshness.
Optional: brush the tops of the loaves before baking with egg whites to give them an attractive glaze.
COST SAVINGS:
Store bought bread: $4/loaf
Ingredient:
Flour - 5 lbs bag = 6 loaves @ $2.00
Salt - 6 teaspoons => 6 loaves @$0.06
Sugar - 12 tablespoons => 6 loaves @ $0.12 [$0.50/lb - 10g/tablespoon => $0.01/tablespoon]
Rosemary - 2 tablespoons => 6 loaves (free from garden)
Water - 8 cups => 6 loaves @$0.01
Energy - 6 loaves @ $0.50
6 loaves for $2.66 => $0.44 / loaf
Labor - about 20 minutes.
Satisfaction - priceless!
This exercise makes me wonder about why the bread in the store is so expensive and what all those profits are used for. I for one thinbk I can spend the money better and enjoy both the baking and the eating of my own bread!
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